Chapter 9

A Railroad is Born
January–April 1851

With Waukesha just ten miles away, the men laying track on the Milwaukee and Mississippi pushed on. Surprisingly the January cold seemed to help their efforts—each day they laid more track than the day before. These workers had all started “green” in October. They had never before laid track, and they had had to teach themselves how. They had laid the first rails slowly, even awkwardly; however, with practice they had developed skill and rhythm. Now they were picking up the tempo, laying one-third of a mile of track per day—two miles of track in a week. The track layer's job consisted of unloading rails, carrying them forward, lowering them into position, and spiking them down. The wooden ties on which they laid the rails were always there, stretching on ahead of them, having been placed by other workers. Track layers also bent rails to shape for the curved sections of the track. They did this by sliding them across two heavy wooden blocks with one man steadily hammering the rail midway between.

The rails were brought from Milwaukee to the end of the tracks on a construction train—usually one or two platform cars pulled by a locomotive. Each rail was twenty-four feet long and weighed 408 pounds. After two rails were set in place, a man called a gauger checked the space between them using a wooden rod that was exactly 4 feet, 8½ inches long. Then the rails were spiked down—three hammer blows to each spike. A completed section of track was a sight to behold, beautiful in the way it blended into the countryside and beautiful in its regularity. Each mile of track contained 68,000 cubic feet of gravel, 2,640 oaken railroad ties, 440 iron rails, and 11,440 iron spikes.1

The men had been laying track at Elm Grove, ten miles from Milwaukee, at the beginning of the year. From there they followed the graded roadway up the valley of Underwood's Run, a headwater of the Menomonee River. Then they swung westward to cross the divide that separated the Lake Michigan and Mississippi watersheds. This section of the divide was a level area with the hills of Brookfield to the south and a marshy plateau to the north. When they had laid the tracks midway across it, they saw the smoke rising from Powers Mill. Powers Mill was the saw mill that supplied lumber to the railroad. It was, as often happened during these years, a side-venture of several of the directors of the railroad. Directors J. L. Bean, Edmund D. Clinton, David J. Powers, and Edward D. Holton had put up buildings, brought in a fifty-horsepower steam engine, installed the machinery for it to work the saw, and began operating. The lumber from their mill was used in railroad cars, bridges, and cattle guards. But its main use was for the oaken ties of the track, which were nine inches by nine inches and nine feet long. Every twelfth tie was cut eighteen inches wide. These double-wide ties were used under the rail-ends—where two rails butted—which were held in alignment solely by spikes. It would be another year before “iron chairs”—rail-holders fastened to the ties—would be available for the purpose.²

Leaving Powers Mill, the track layers worked westward, then southwestward, as the grade descended into the valley of the Fox River. This was not the Fox River that empties into Green Bay—this was the “Fox River of the Illinois,” which flows southward through Waukesha into Illinois and empties into the Illinois River, which in turn empties into the Mississippi. The men were working in the upper reaches of the Fox, where it was a small stream, meandering from one side of the roadway to the other. Soon they passed Fox River Cottage (later Forest House), a stage coach house whose proprietors looked forward to sheltering and feeding passengers transferring between the stage coaches and the trains. In mid-February the track layers approached Waukesha, and the ringing of their hammers was heard in the village.

Waukesha began as Prairie Village, then became Prairieville, then Waukesha. The land where the village lay, at the rapids of the Fox River, was first claimed by Alonzo and Morris Cutler, accompanied by their father, in 1834. The Cutlers went back East to get the money with which to purchase it and then returned the following spring to settle. It was said that Morris Cutler provided the first ferry service when he carried people on his back across a shallow part of the river. In 1839 the Cutlers sold the part of their land that was on the rapids to brothers Samuel H. and William A. Barstow The Barstows built a large flouring mill there, and the village quickly grew up around it. In the mid-1840s William Barstow and Alexander Randall (both future governors of Wisconsin) became enthusiastic promoters of the Milwaukee and Waukesha Railroad. In 1847 they were designated commissioners to receive its stock subscriptions. Those duties ended when the company organized in 1849. Finally in 1851, with the arrival of the tracks, they were seeing the fruits of their labors. In 1851 Waukesha had two thousand inhabitants. It also had two mills, two foundries, two breweries, eight churches, and—the pride of the village—four miles of limestone sidewalks.

With the tracks nearing Waukesha, more and more railroaders, from the president of the company to the laborers on the line, were coming into town. Anson Buttles, a surveyor for the railroad and a personal friend of Byron Kilbourn, was among them. On January 21 he wrote his wife:

Dear Wife

Since I started from home, it has seemed an age to me but I get along very well. I did not leave Milwaukee until Thursday and from there we came to Waukesha and here we have been ever since waiting for Mr. Kilbourn to come out but the weather did not let him come[.] [I]t was too cold and I was glad he did not come for it was so cold we could not stay out very long but he came out on Sunday and we went down to the Rail Road to work and was walking around the Depot and just as I turned around Mr. Kilbourn fell down (by stepping on a small stick) and broke his right arm. We took him up to the town and I went after a doctor and he said his arm was broke [sic]. So we telegraphed in to Mrs. Kilbourn and Doctor Wolcott and they came out in two hours. So that has kept us here some time longer, he has sent for a man to come and go out with us. He will be here tomorrow and then we will go… .

The weather has been very cold until today, and now I am afraid it will rain soon and make it very bad walking for us. We will have a ride out in a waggon [sic] which Mr. Kilbourn has got for us, which will be better than walking, don't you think?

Your loving husband.

Anson3

The influence of the railroad could be seen in Waukesha's railroad facilities. The buildings, erected in 1849 and 1850, were imposing. The two-story stone depot was larger and more substantial than Milwaukee's single-story frame depot. Two tracks ran through the structure's middle so that passengers could get on and off the trains with a roof over their heads. Next to the depot was an even larger stone building—the 120-foot by 80-foot car-building shop where the company's passenger and freight cars were built. A full 20 miles from the port of Milwaukee, the shop was a statement of optimism. Until the first segment of the railway was complete, all the wheels, axles, and frame components had to be brought from the rail-head by teams and wagons. The Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad Company had spent $ 19,135 on its facilities at Waukesha—and only $1,073 on those at Milwaukee.4

The car-building shop was fortunate in having experienced car builders John Bailie, Walter Kittredge, and Edwin Kittredge working there. Bailie had practiced his trade in New York before coming to Waukesha. The Kittredges (probably brothers) had built cars in Detroit for the Michigan Central Railroad. In 1841 Walter Kittredge was hired by the Michigan Central Railroad as a master car builder. In 1850 he moved with his family to Waukesha, where he began work at the new Milwaukee and Mississippi car-building shops. At the time only three or four miles of track had been laid at Milwaukee. Edwin Kittredge, who had learned carpentry and car building in the shops of the Michigan Central during the 1840s, was hired in the fall of 1850. Edwin built the company's first passenger car, which was the first railroad passenger car in Wisconsin.⁵

By the time the tracks reached Waukesha, the shops had completed four passenger cars. The cars were typical of their time. They were forty feet long (including the outside platforms), made of wood, painted cream-yellow, and covered by low, arched roofs. Inside were thinly upholstered, tightly spaced seats for forty passengers—comfort on railroads had not yet arrived. However, there were some amenities. The windows by the outside seats could be opened to let in fresh air or closed to keep out smoke and ashes, and the arched roof gave six feet of headroom in the center aisle—enough to allow most people to walk through the car without stooping. By all accounts, these cars were built as well as any in the East.⁶

On February 15, 1851, the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad Company announced that in ten days time, the first trains would begin to run on a regular schedule: “Trains for freight and passengers leave the Depot on Second Street, regularly every morning and afternoon.”⁷ The company then posted the following announcement to proclaim the opening of the railroad:

MILWAUKEE & MISSISSIPPI RAIL ROAD PROGRAMME

For the Occasion of opening the Rail Road to Waukesha on Tuesday, Feb. 25th, 1851.

The cars will leave the Depot at Milwaukee at 10 o'clock A. M. precisely.

Fare for each Passenger out and returning $2.50.

All Passengers by the Train will receive a Dinner Ticket free of Charge.

HESS' BAND WILL ACCOMPANY THE TRAIN.

DINNER

Will be served in the Company's new and spacious Car House, under the direction of the Committee of Arrangements at 1 o'clock P. M. Precisely.

AFTER THE REMOVAL OF THE CLOTH

Addresses will be made. Among those who will address the Company, it is expected will be Judge Hubbell, Mayor Upham and Governor Tallmadge.

Ladies are expected to participate in the festivities of the Occasion.

THE RETURN TRAIN

Will leave Waukesha at 4 o'clock p.m. precisely

AN EVENING TRAIN

Will leave at 6 o' clock p. m. to take out those who desire to participate in the festivities of the evening. Fare for single gentlemen, the usual rates. For a gentleman and lady, out and back, two dollars.-E. D. Holton, Supt.8

On the morning of the 25th the snow that had been on the ground had melted and Milwaukee's streets were muddy. Despite these conditions people found their way to the depot, at the foot of Second Street, to partake in the opening of Wisconsin's first railroad. There the train—engine No. 1, four newly finished passenger cars, and a platform car fitted with benches—stood waiting. Over two hundred ticketed passengers boarded and took their seats. Hess's Band filled the air with festive music. The “outside passengers,” seated on the platform car, wrapped themselves in blankets and prepared for a cold ride. Most of the passengers had never ridden on a train before. Some were nervous about traveling at twenty-five or thirty miles per hour. Yet all knew that they were participating in an historic event—the opening of Wisconsin's first railroad. Many of them would, in the years to come, tell their children and grandchildren about this day.⁹

At twenty minutes past eleven o'clock Conductor Edwin Bridgeman signaled for the train to start. As the engineer opened the locomotive's throttle, steam, at a pressure of one hundred pounds per square inch, rushed down the pipes to the two fourteen-by-twenty-six-inch cylinders, mounted on either side of the boiler at the front of the locomotive. On one side, as the steam pushed the piston in the cylinder forward, the connecting rods pulled the tops of the driving wheels on that side forward. On the other side the steam pushed the piston backward and the rods pushed the bottoms of the driving wheels backward. The wheels on both sides turned, and the 46,000-pound locomotive moved forward. After traveling two inches, the iron connecting-link at the rear pulled taut and jerked the 44,000-pound tender (the car directly behind the locomotive that supplied it with cord-wood fuel and the water for the boiler) into motion. The locomotive and tender, moving as a unit, jerked the cars into motion one by one, each with more force than the one before. And then the train was moving. The crowd of onlookers cheered, gentlemen threw their hats into the air, and before anyone fully grasped what was happening, the train left the station.10

The inaugural train steamed westward, slowly ascending the Menomonee River valley. Farmers and their families, many dressed in their Sunday best, lined the way, cheering and waving. Conductor Bridgeman had the train make all the proper stops—Spring Street Road, Chase's Mill, Wauwatosa, Blanchard's, Underwood's, Elm Grove, Dixon's Road, Power's Mill, Tew's Road, Plank Road, and Fox River Cottage—all “flag-stops” without platforms or stations—taking on passengers at each. One hour and forty-five minutes after leaving Milwaukee, the train arrived in Waukesha. As the passengers descended from the train inside the sizeable, covered depot, they were greeted by a large crowd of their “country cousins.”

Some five hundred people walked from the depot to the car-building shop at Waukesha, where the celebration was to take place. The work of the reception committee was evident: the shop equipment had been cleared and the room fitted up with tables, chairs, and a speaker's platform. After the guests were seated, announcements were made and a letter from President Kilbourn was read in which he conveyed his regret at not being able to attend due to his recent arm injury. Then came a sumptuous dinner. It was followed by speeches from Mayor Upham, Milwaukee and Mississippi Superintendent Holton, and J. Brown of Milwaukee; Alexander Randall of Waukesha; Joseph Goodrich of Milton; and Rufus Cheney of Whitewater. At four o'clock the train returned to Milwaukee. At six o'clock a second train arrived with those coming for the evening celebrations and the dance. The reduced fare for gentlemen bringing ladies had the desired effect. The food, the music, the dancing, the speeches, and especially the train rides—it had been a day to remember.¹¹

Regularly scheduled rail service between Milwaukee and Waukesha, with one train daily in each direction, began on March 4, 1851. At the end of the month the directors reported the costs of building the 20.5-mile railroad:

2

Thus, the cost of the road proper, not including locomotives, cars, buildings, etc., was $13,132.20 per mile. The directors pointed out that the expenditures, though exceeding estimates, were not above the cost of similar roads and did not exceed the average cost of the Galena and Chicago Union road.¹³ Their best news, however, was that during March the company had earned revenues averaging $45 per day!

On April 15 the Milwaukee and Mississippi expanded its services by providing one passenger train and one freight train, daily, in each direction. Westbound trains left Milwaukee at 7:40 a.m. and 3:40 p.m.; eastbound trains left Waukesha at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. The new schedule was met with acclaim by the business community, and revenues grew. For April the company reported revenues averaging $60 per day—up from the $45 of March.¹⁴

The Milwaukee and Mississippi's honeymoon period continued through April and May. During this time Milwaukee's newspapers received letters from people who had ridden the trains. On May 5 the following appeared in the Sentinel and Gazette. It was written at Waukesha by a traveler from New Hampshire:

Gentlemen: Having occasion to pass through your State, I rode over the Milwaukee & Mississippi Rail Road en route from your beautiful city to this village, and I cannot forbear offering a word, through your paper, to the public, in relation to the railroad, as I am inclined to opinion there is a misapprehension abroad upon the subject. From what I had heard, I expected to find the road rough and uneven. the cars inferior and uncomfortable, and the whole affair a very sorry imitation of what a well constructed, well conducted railroad ought to be.

But to my great surprise I found the road as smooth as the average Eastern Trunk Railroads. The car I rode in was spacious, plainly but well finished. the upholstery done in modern and most approved manner. The locomotive apparently new, in fine order, of large size, with four driving wheels. Several stops were made upon the route, and from the perfect ease with which the stops and starts were made, I would judge an excellent engineer had charge of the engine. Upon one point I wish to speak particularly, that is the quiet and unobtrusive manner in which the business of the road is carried on. The courteous manner of the attendants would do well to be patterned after by many older companies.

In fine, the morning was bright, quite a number of ladies were along, and the ride was delightful; and as a traveler through your young and beautiful State, I feel that I have been laid under obligation by the projectors and managers of the Milwaukee & Mississippi Rail Road, and would recommend to all fellow travelers going West, instead of taking the dust and sweat of the stagecoaches, or private carriages, to take the railroad.15

Another letter, printed in the Sentinel and Gazette of May 10, chronicles a trip to the end of the line and beyond:

In Company with several friends we took a ride, Thursday, over the Railroad from this city [Milwaukee] to Waukesha; partly to see for ourselves the condition of the track, and partly to enjoy a brief holiday in the country … Taking our places as “outsiders” on one of the Platform Cars, we were enabled to scrutinize quite clearly the appearance and condition of the road-bed and superstructure… . The road is wonderfully improved… . The road-bed, made almost wholly of gravel, is one of the best we have ever seen, and the superstructure, composed of the heavy T rail resting on substantial oak ties, is well laid, solid and enduring. The cars, though not as elegant as some of those on the older Eastern roads, are neat, airy, and comfortable. The Locomotives are of ample power; the Engineers careful and competent; and the Conductor, Mr. E. Bridgeman, a model of civility… .

The approach to Waukesha, down the valley of the Fox, is beautiful. Waukesha itself is a beautiful village, and the country round it fertile, inviting, well settled, and under good cultivation… .

The ride home was speedy and pleasant; the train making the schedule time (an hour and a half including all stops) to a minute. So much was the excursion enjoyed by all, that before separating it was agreed to repeat the experiment with a larger party, not forgetting the ladies, next week.¹⁶

At the end of May the company announced that its revenues for the month had averaged $114 per day—almost double those of April. The stockholders could breathe a sigh of relief. There had been no guarantees that their railroad, new and untried, would succeed. Two plank roads, running parallel to the railroad, offered competition and had been a concern. But with May's figures, the stockholders knew that the railroad would pay. After receiving the news, Secretary Benjamin Edgerton told a newspaper reporter that he felt “confident that the road would be a great success.” For the month of June, the company reported $2,104 in freight revenues and $4,088 in passenger revenues. The total—$6,192—was again almost double the previous month's.17

And so it was that Wisconsin received its first railroad. Conceived by Milwaukee pioneers in 1835, presented to the territorial legislature in 1836, chartered by that legislature in 1847, and built in 1849, 1850, and 1851, it became a fully functional railroad in February 1851. This only happened because many people had persevered for many years. Company President Kilbourn deserved much of the credit. So too did Edgerton, Solomon Juneau, John Tweedy, Randall, William Barstow, Richard P. Morgan, Buttles, Sherbourne S. Merrill, Alexander Mitchell, James Kneeland, Holton, Clinton, Goodrich, and countless others. Special recognition was due to the stockholders, most of whom were farmers, who had had the courage to buy into the venture with money, goods, labor, or mortgages on their properties—they were the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad Company. As that first train left the station, many of them were no doubt very proud of the wonder they had created—and looking forward to the benefits they hoped it would bring.